How Times Change
by Highliez
Summary: Sonic stops to think about Preston's life so far. This is mainly just a writing test to see what I can really do. I probally will use this again.


In Camelot...

Sonic The Hedgehog looked around the room nervously, trying, yet not succeeding to get someone to dance with him in the grand hall. It was nightime, and Sonic was glad there wasn't a full moon tonight (It's a long story, such as this one). Suddenly, he realized who he should ask: Nimue! He nearly smacked himself for his own stupidity. However, as he found where she was, he saw a familiar black-haired human in front of her. "May I?" He asked the lady of the lake with those charming, emerald - blue eyes. Nimue responds by holding his hand and starting to dance. "I guess that's a yes." He says, grinning. Sonic couldn't help but smile. He thought of when Preston was just a kid, and how he came to be this way...

6 Years Earlier...

A nine - year old thief ran across the streets of Station Square. It was just two hours since famous hero Sonic The Hedgehog had gotten captured from G.U.N for "vandalizing" private property. Preston had a similar problem with the government as well at the moment, them trying to put him in a "daycare." Preston however was as smart as a thirteen - year old, and he knew that those words really meant that they would place him in someplace where he would be forgotten forever. His parents were dead, killed by Doctor Eggman when he was five. Ever since then, the child fugitive had been stealing for his own survival. He did what he had to do. He stopped in a resturaunt, catching his breath. He ordered a slice of pizza and a soda. Once he had ate, he sat there, figuring out what to do next. Just then a loud WHOOSH went past the resturaunt, swinging the doors open. Being a fast and strong runner due to his years on the run, he got to the door just in time to see a blue hedgehog whizzing past the street...on a snowboard. Confused, he leaned closer to the road to see more. However, other people, wanting to see what the noise was, "accidentally" pushed him out of the store...straight into a G.U.N truck who's owner had left the door open to see Sonic. Preston fell onto the gas pedal, making the truck immediately drive away. Preston,shocked, got up to see that he was right behind the blue blur. He had no idea what to do. Then, finding the still open door, he flung out of it, right before the truck exploded. The last thing he hoped for before he blacked out was that he wouldn't be caught.

As he woke up, he noticed a orangeish - yellow fox standing above him. He got himself up quickly, hoping that he wasn't in jail. He was instead in a house hidden deep into the Mystic Ruins.

"Are you alright?" The fox asked.

"I'm just fine." Preston responded. That itself was a lie. His head felt like it was ripped open, he couldn't feel his legs, his arms felt like they were on fire, and his mouth felt like the Sahara Desert was inside it.

"I'm Tails," the fox said. "Who are you?" Preston blinked. The fox seriously didn't know his name? He had wanted posters on him in every inch of Station Square.

"I'm Preston," he said. "Uhhh, thanks for the help, but I have to go right now."

"Something wrong?" Tails asked. Preston realized that he couldn't lie to this kid. He was hardly older than himself, and for some reason, he felt as if he lied to him, his heart would shatter.

"Well," Preston answered, "just your average run from the military." For him, at least, it was. He saw Tails grinning. He wondered if he reminded the fox of someone he knew.

"Heh. Well, have you seen a blue hedgehog anywhere?" Preston gasped. He had seen exactly that.

"STRANGE, ISN'T IT?!" his brain thought. "Shut up, brain." he mentally said. Of course he told the young fox everything. Tails responded with a 'Thanks, see you later' statement, before leaving and starting his plane. Before Preston knew it, he was alone. Knowing that G.U.N would've followed the fox to his house, Preston ran out the back door after a well - deserved meal. Since he had absolutely no experience in this region, he eventually got lost, yet he kept running away from G.U.N. Eventually, (and he had no idea how,) he ended up in a desert. Luckily he stole - uhh, borrowed - a bottle of water from Tails. He made his way into a pyramid, accessing a secret teleport system (the one the Dark side used in SA2). In the ARK he found, he eventually found his way to right under the Eclipse Cannon, and threw the very same blue hedgehog from before a (fake) chaos emerald he dropped into space. He made his way back to the lobby of the ARK before witnessing Sonic and Shadow destroy the Biolizard. When everyone saw him there, no one spoke. A kid helping to save the world in space?! Some of them looked like they were proud of him; some looked as if they couldn't believe that he was either stupid or brave enough to come here; some looked at him as if he was just another tiny, defenseless human. At the end of the day, people were shocked to see him get off the ARK; for once, he didn't have to spend all day running from G.U.N.

His next adventure was when Shadow had amnesia. Though he didn't get to meet Shadow from before, he still helped Shadow. He vowed to himself that one day, he would be like Shadow. A hero in the end. He surprisingly found a golden chaos emerald after the fight Shadow had. (Remember the secret eighth one in Sonic 3 & Knuckles? It returned. XD) He would later accidently put some of Shadow/Black Doom's DNA in himself, allowing him to use the chaos emeralds. The secret one he found would stay with him almost all the time, him often using it for battle or for transportation.

Preston's next big quest was when Mephelis was trying to kill Sonic (Sonic 06). He was now 12, and he was no longer the same kid he was from one and a half years ago. He now wore the type of shoes that Sonic and his friends wear, though he refused to wear gloves. He was as tall as Sonic now, being somewhat of a logical and careful person. His black hair now covered one side of his face, only his blue eyes being visible on that side. He was friends with Sonic and a couple of other people (Tails, Knuckles, etc.). He was smart enough now to create a tiny pair of rockets that were inside of his shoes, allowing him to run faster. His stamina was increased greatly, able to run for almost three hours straight without stopping. He was a new person.

The next side quest Preston was on was when the Earth had split apart, giving Sonic his werehog form. He was once again different from before. He was 14 now, and had developed some sort of brother relationship with Sonic (though it was nowhere close to matching Sonic and Tails' brotherly relationship). His hair now stayed completely off of his face, with a tiny stand barely on his face at all. He wore both "Sonic Shoes" and these special kind of gloves that Sonic and his friends wore. He knew almost all of Sonic's friends and was as smart to build a iron - man like Sonic suit, giving himself more protection and the ability to spindash or use the homing attack. His personality was now very much like Sonic's as a teenager, with a silly, funny, cocky nature. However, when he got really angry, you didn't want to mess with him. He could now perform a bunch of tricks on both the air and on the ground. All of his equipment made him almost able to reach the sound barrier. He usually wore some blue jeans and a light gray jacket. He had died when Sonic rescued him in his werehog form, but all the chaos energy he absorbed from his emerald (that he managed to bring back the color to after it was drained) brought him back to life. As a side effect of all that chaos energy he absorbed , his blue eyes were now emerald - blue. He also got a strangle habit of jumping or running off the top of skyscrapers.

He also was one of the people Sonic rescued when he met with his classic self. While in the "White Space," he found Sonic as a teenager, the same Sonic who made his life turn for the better. Him now being the same age as that Sonic, (15,) he was a lot taller. He was sad to see the Sonic that made his life interesting go.

Now Preston was mostly the same from his last two adventures, him now being 15. He accidently fell into a time rift after finding one of the Sacred Swords that led to the Camelot world, the one that Sonic was currently in. He was now enjoying himself at the ball, dancing with Nimue. He beat Sonic to asking her for a dance. He wondered what turn his life would take next.

Sonic stopped thinking about Preston for now. Maybe he would ask Merlina to dance with him. He then grinned. He bet that kid had one hell of a future coming up for him!

*DISCLAIMER* I do not own Sonic or any of the other characters in this story except Preston. SEGA owns them.


End file.
